Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns – The Ultimate Guide

Welcome to our grammar lesson about Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns in Spanish.

Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns (“Adjetivos y Pronombres Demostrativos”) are a collection of words that point to something or someone based on its distance to the speaker.They are the equivalent of the English words “this-these” (for short distance), “that-those” (for long distance).

In this lesson, we will learn all about Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns and how to use them, with example sentences.

1. Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns: the 3 distances

While in English we distinguish grammatically between 2 distances (“this” = short distance, “that” = long distance), in Spanish there are 3 distances. The demonstrative forms for each distance are:

Short Distance Forms

Masculine

Feminine

Singular

este

esta

Plural

estos

estas

Neuter

esto

Medium Distance Forms

Masculine

Feminine

Singular

ese

esa

Plural

esos

esas

Neuter

eso

Long Distance Forms

Masculine

Feminine

Singular

aquel

aquella

Plural

aquellos

aquellas

Neuter

aquello

No accent marks on demonstratives!

There was a time when these forms could have accent marks on them, depending on the specific role they had in a sentence. So you might find texts where you see demonstratives with accent marks.

But nowadays, the rule is no accent marks, in any case. Easy Peasy!

2. Neuter Vs. Non-neuter Forms

In the tables above we notice that, apart from the typical masculine-feminine, singular-plural forms, for every distance there is also one neuter form.

The Spanish student needs to learn when to use the neuter form, and when to use the non-neuter forms.

We will study that next.

Uses of the Neuter Form

There is only one neuter form for each distance. The most frequent uses of the neuter form are the following:

Referring to something vaguely

It can be because the speaker doesn’t know exactly what it is, or he wants to refer to it in a vague manner, just like if in English we said “this thing” or “that thing”:

No me gusta esto.I don’t like this. (“this thing”)

Esto es muy bonito.This (“this thing”) is very beautiful.

Dame eso.Give me that. (“that thing”)

Cuéntame aquello.Tell me about that. (“that thing”)

Asking what something is (its fundamental nature)

¿Qué es esto?What is this?

¿Qué es eso?What is that?

¿Qué es aquello?What is that?

Saying what something is (its fundamental nature)

Esto es un coche.This is a car. (we are revealing its nature, what it is)

Eso es una casa.That is a house. (we are revealing its nature, what it is)

Uses of Non-neuter Forms

Except for the few cases we have explained where we use the Neuter Forms, in any other case we use the Non-neuter forms.

Basically, we can say that whenever the speakers are talking about something of which they know its fundamental nature, and they are discussing something else about it, we use Non-neuter forms. Look at this examples:

Aquel perro es marrón.That dog is brown. (The speakers know it is a dog, they are discussing its color)

Esta es mi casa.This is my house. (The speakers know it is a house, they are discussing who owns it)

Esos libros son muy interesantes.Those books are very interesting (again, they are talking about their qualities, not about what they are fundamentally).

Me gusta este bar.I like this bar.

Aquellas son las montañas más grandes de esta región.Those are the highest mountains of this region.

Dame esa guitarra.Give me that guitar.

Also: when referring to people, ALWAYS use Non-neuter forms:

Esa es María.That is María.

Aquellas son mis primas.Those are my female cousins.

3. Are they adjectives or pronouns?

Regarding the grammatical classification of demonstratives:

The neuter formsesto, eso, aquello are always pronouns.

The non-neuter are considered adjectives if they are placed right before a noun. Otherwise, they are considered pronouns.

This classification won’t matter to most students, but just in case you wanted to know 🙂